EDU.INT
INTER-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION
YEMEN
A NATION IN CONFLICT
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The Yemeni Civil War is an ongoing multi-sided civil war mainly between the Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi-led Yemeni government and the Houthi armed movement, along with their supporters and allies. Both claim to constitute the official government of Yemen.
Since 2014, Yemen has been in the midst of battle. The situation has regularly been called the ‘world’s worst humanitarian crisis’ by the United Nations and other organizations, including in 2021.
About 13 million people are facing starvation and 80 percent of the country’s population (or around 23.2 million) require humanitarian aid.
At the same time that COVID-19 arrived in spring 2020, Yemen was also hit by once-in-a generation flooding that affected more than 100,000 people, left thousands of people homeless and impacted camps for IDPs. COVID-19’s arrival coincided with Yemen’s rainy season, which always brings the potential for cholera outbreaks.
The 2019 cholera outbreak started during the rainy season and was the second-worst outbreak in global history; it is still not officially under control. Additional flooding occurred in late April/early May 2021 after several days of rain. There was flash flooding in southwestern Yemen, particularly in the Sanaa, Ibb, Shabwa and Hodeida provinces. At least 13 people were killed and numerous buildings collapsed.
Despite humanitarian efforts from the international community, the people of Yemen are suffering. Terribly suffering. EDU has recognized that women and children are especially effected by the conflict. EDU has volunteers working within Yemen. Those volunteers are putting themselves at risk on a daily basis, trying to help the most vulnerable.
Suffering can be reduced when communities work together.
Therefore, at EDU, Community engagement is at the core of our strategy.
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Alleviate human suffering through relief, Promote peace and development through awareness and empowering the local community.
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To put all efforts in Resettling and Rehabilitating individuals fleeing from war zones by meeting their basic needs like food, shelter, water and sanitation
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Provide coordinated aid relief to populations affected by war:
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Foster Peace in Communities: Work with community leaders, provide structured training and bring together diverse groups, help them identify root causes of conflict and work towards lasting peace.
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Fully participate in HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns and encourages free counseling and testing.
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Create sponsored education opportunities and grants to study abroad.
There are about four million internally displaced people in Yemen, 73% of whom are women and children. There are only three countries – “Syria, Colombia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo [that] have larger internal displacement driven by conflict.”
An estimated “30 percent of displaced households are now headed by women, compared to 9 percent before the escalation of the conflict in 2015,” according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPHA). They add: “An estimated 5 million women and girls of childbearing age, and 1.7 million pregnant and breastfeeding women, have limited or no access to reproductive health services, including antenatal care, safe delivery, post-natal care, family planning, and emergency obstetric and newborn care. One Yemeni woman dies every two hours during childbirth, from causes that are almost entirely preventable.”
According to the UNHCR:
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Millions of internally displaced Yemenis live in makeshift shelters in urban and rural areas.
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Hundreds of thousands of displaced are living in Hajjah, a district northwest of the capital Sana’a.
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Many refugees who have left Yemen flee to Oman, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan.
African migrants who traveled to Yemen in the hopes of finding work in the Gulf states only to be trapped and forced into camps by rebels have begun to return home. There are currently about 32,000 migrants, most from Ethiopia, left in Yemen. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the UN’s migration agency, more than 11,000 migrants returned home by boat in the past year, many operated by smugglers. On April 12, 2021, at least 42 people died when their boat sank off the coast of Djibouti.
Another 160 people were rescued from drowning and assisted by IOM to return safely. IOM is operating a program known as “Voluntary Humanitarian Return” (VHR) to help prevent tragedies such as the one on April 12. On March 13, the second VHR flight brought a plane full of migrants safely home. Approximately 1,100 people have been approved for return.
